This week, San Francisco-based clothing company ModCloth announced its latest model: Los Angeles comedian and writer Rye Silverman, who is the company’s first transgender model. Silverman was chosen as part of the monthly #fashiontruth Casting Call for All, which features models chosen from ModCloth’s community of followers and fans. “We celebrate the unique beauty of all women, and this campaign began as a way to bring that idea to life,” co-founder Susan Koger said in a prepared statement.

Since launching the campaign last summer, ModCloth has selected a model each month from customer-submitted photos. The brand names an article of clothing after each model, in addition to featuring them on the site. (See the “All About Rye Dress” here.)

In Silverman’s #fashiontruth profile, she says that she didn’t come out about being transgender until she was 27. “Basically,” she says, “that’s how old I was when I finally faced my fears about it and knew I couldn’t carry the secret of it, and was tired of feeling ashamed about it.”

In the photo shoot accompanying the campaign, pictured above, Silverman is pictured wearing three ModCloth dresses that represent her style, which she describes as “a quirky or edgy twist on vintage.” According to Koger, Silverman has been posting to the brand’s Style Gallery “for years.” (The Style Gallery is a forum for customers to share photos of themselves wearing ModCloth.) “The Style Gallery did so much for me in regards to really gaining confidence to both assert my own style,” Silverman says.

In choosing models, Koger says that the ModCloth team looks at the creativity used in interpreting the concept of “fashion truth” while staying consistent with the company’s values of self-respect and being the best version of yourself. “We also want to showcase our customers’ unique personalities, rife with creativity, wit, smarts and personal style,” she says. “Those snapshots that reflect the diversity that is the true face of fashion always stand out.”

To learn more about Rye Silverman, see her blog, “Chick Like Me,” and browse the photos above to see her in the ModCloth campaign.